as so real that there is some warrant for the
view of Renan that at one time it was doubtful whether the current as it
flowed away into the Dark Ages should be Mithraic or Christian.

The vitalization of the evidence regarding these cults is M. Cumont's great
contribution. His perseverance in the accurate collection of material is
equalled only by his power to see the real nature and effect of the
religions of which he writes. Assuming that no religion can succeed merely
because of externals, but must stand on some foundation of moral
excellence, he shows how the pagan faiths were able to hold their own, and
even to contest the ground with Christianity. These religions, he asserts,
gave greater satisfaction first, to the senses and passions, secondly, to
the intelligence, finally, and above all, to the conscience. "The spread of
the Oriental religions"--again I quote {xi} a summary from _Classical
Philology_--"was due to merit. In contrast to the cold and formal religions
of Rome, the Oriental faiths, with their hoary traditions and basis of
science and culture, their fine ceremonial, the excitement attendant on
their mysteries, their deities with hearts of compassion, their cultivation
of the social bond, their appeal to conscience and their promises of
purification and reward in a future life, were personal rather than civic,
and satisfied the individual soul.... With such a conception of latter-day
paganism, we may more easily understand its strength and the bitter rivalry
between it and the new faith, as well as the facility with which pagan
society, once its cause was proved hopeless, turned to Christianity." The
Oriental religions had made straight the way. Christianity triumphed after
long conflict because its antagonists also were not without weapons from
the armory of God. Both parties to the struggle had their loins girt about
with truth, and both wielded the sword of the spirit; but the steel of the
Christian was the more piercing, the breastplate of his righteousness was
the stronger, and his feet were better shod with the preparation of the
gospel of peace.

Nor did Christianity stop there. It took from its opponents their own
weapons, and used them; the better elements of paganism were transferred to
the new religion. "As the religious history of the empire is studied more
closely," writes M. Cumont, "the triumph of the church will, in our
opinion, appear more and more as the culmination of a long evolution